I had a great time this weekend. Saturday, I went to the gym, and then we headed out to the Metalsmith's Symposium. My sister in law laughing_fox was in town, and she, ballistabob and myself headed out to the event.

Metalsmith's was one of the most relaxing events ever. Because it was all about classes, we got to hang out and practice, practice, practice. dante_di_pietro was teaching his Italian rapier class, which was excellent as usual, and I also got to train with (and get schooled by) Giacomo in longsword for cut and thrust.

All in all, a great day.

Saturday, laughing_fox and I spent entirely too much time playing with WordPress, and trying to figure out a redesign of my current website, which is in dire need of updating. I won't get into the particulars of it, but in the end, I decided that I will be moving my site to WordPress, while keeping my current host company so I can still hang on to my HTML and PDF articles and files, and post new ones as they come out. This will also allow me to update my site in blog form, instead of having to wait for ages to add an update.

Yay me!

While doing this, and discussing with Laughing-Fox about the wonders and perils of such tools as Twitter, Facebook, Live Journal, WordPress, and the like, I came to the conclusion that all of these are useful and all have their own place. It is simply that one has to use them for what they are meant for.

Here are my thoughts:

Twitter: Yes, I have an account but I seldom log in. However, unbeknownst to me, a lot of interesting literary discussions happen there. It is in my own best interest to start paying attention to keep up to date.

Facebook: Someone described it as a cocktail party. I agree. It is noisy and cluttered. Yet, it can be a great tool with keeping up with family and friends and sharing family pictures. I don't always log in, hence I sometimes miss a lot of news. But if you clear out the clutter of people playing Farmville and other stuff (and believe me, I hide them all the time), you may still make good use of it.

Live Journal: Laughing-Fox described it as a "gated community." And I agree. It is exactly what it is. I think that this is why we all got so uncomfortable when the powers-that-be got the brilliant idea of linking it to Facebook and Twitter. That's not what LJ is for. To be honest, very few people in FB have any interest whatsoever in reading anyone's journal. Besides, it is nice that you can have that filter option so you can share some more personal things only with those people that you pick. Hence, gated community. And it should probably stay that way.

WordPress and other similar blogs: Those are great for actual public blogging. And by blogging I mean writing articles that are meant for general consumption, not necessarily something that involves your daily activities; unless said activities involve making a new dress for a dollar a day or cooking the entire Julia Child cookbook for all the world to see. You get the idea.

Me? I will have one of each, thank you very much. And for a while, I have been pondering about the content of my Live Journal. It started as a very personal blog, with mostly everyday activities, costuming and rapier entries. Currently, I have added a bunch of tv reviews and other stuff, which I enjoy immensely. And of course, I sometimes wonder if people get bemused by it. In the end, I have decided to continue doing it this way, posting about anything that comes to mind. After all, there are some people that seem to enjoy it (all two of you), and it gives me great pleasure posting silly surveys.

But I am doing the WordPress thing in order to keep my website dynamic. It is much better than keeping a monolithic site that is only updated once a year. Here is the WordPress draft site. It is still under construction. When it is finished, I will simply point my domain to the new site and the new and improved Une Robe Magnifique will fully debut.

Of course, I will link it to my LJ. Whenever I post there or add any articles or photos, it will post here automatically.

Stay tuned.

And by the way, Dancing with the Stars is tonight. You can expect an entry and survey tomorrow, if I find some time at my lunch hour.

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Comments

BTW, in case you don't know -- stuff from friends-locked posts can still be cross-posted to Facebook (including pictures). They didn't fix anything at all.

I agree with everything else that you said. I have a Facebook; I ♥ FB. But there are folks there that I don't want here.

FB is Cocktail Party conversation. LJ is "meaningful discourse." I've contemplated a Real Blog. If I was where I could chronicle the Spring Flora or taxonomy-type stuff, I might do that. Different venues; different purposes. I love the friends I've made here!

nods. If I get that job at Kennesaw State, it will probably happen. Problem is that there's no Spring Flora here at all. The only thing that flowers in the spring (that's not dogwoods, azaleas and magnolia trees [chinese and native] is the Orobanche uniflora that's in my yard (points to icon). I love that stuff! It's a parasitic plant.

I love your posts! And I miss seeing a lot of other people's who don't seem to be posting here anymore. Or very much. I've fallen off the LJ wagon myself but that's more because I've been really busy and not inclined to write long entries. FB is for memos, LJ is for letters. Keep posting, of Fab Bel!